Soft As Roses
by Sapphire Pirate
Summary: Title may be temporary, though it's worked for the past couple of months, so it may stick. What if Spock and Jim were college roommates and Nyota Uhura was determined to get them together (no matter how much she may dislike Jim)? Don't know what I was thinking with this one either. College AU. Spock/Jim. Reviews and critiques welcome.
1. 14 Point 71938 Minutes

James Tiberius Kirk was not going to be ignored. He sat on his bed, his back to the wall, staring at his new college roommate. The blonde felt his patience being tested. He'd been there for ten minutes and the black haired kid still hadn't acknowledged his presence! Impatiently, he cleared his throat, waiting for his roommate to turn around and at the very least say he knew Jim was there. "Do you have something in your throat?"

The blonde rolled his eyes. "No," he replied dryly. "I've been waiting for you to acknowledge my presence."

His new roommate turned to face him. "I was under the impression that if you wanted a conversation, you would have started it yourself."

Jim opened his mouth to retort before closing it thoughtfully. "Fine," he ground out, his temper beginning to get the better of him. "I'm Jim Kirk." He held a hand out to the raven haired young man.

"Spock," the other man replied, shaking Jim's hand briefly. "Have you unpacked your belongings yet?" Jim looked around, his eyes landing on the bin at the foot of his bed with a bag laying on top of it.

"Not really, no," Jim said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. An awkward silence fell between them and Jim, for once in his life, could not think of a topic to start a conversation with. "Uh, what're you majoring in?"

Spock did not look at Jim, making the blonde really wonder what his problem was. "I have not fully thought out what my major degree will be. What is your major degree?"

"It's Jim." Spock raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him, a gesture Jim felt that he would have to become accustomed with. "My name, it's Jim." Jim sighed and rolled his eyes when it was obvious his roommate wasn't getting it. "Call me Jim. And I don't know either. It's a big choice. Then again," he continued. "You don't have to stay in that field for the rest of your life."

Spock nodded. "Indeed. However it is unlikely that I would choose a major in which I had no particular interest." He looked back down at his bag and continued unpacking.

"Geez, how much stuff did you bring?" The raven looked up at him. "I mean, you're reaching fifteen minutes here."

"I have been unpacking my belongings for fourteen point seven one nine three eight minutes. Does this disturb you?"

Jim blinked, once, twice, thrice. "Uh, not really. I was just asking because you have a lot of stuff." Spock nodded, looking back down at what he was unpacking. The blonde stared at him. "Do you need any help with that stuff or something?"

The raven began closing his bag. "I do not require assistance at this time, though I thank you for the offer." He walked over to the shelf where he was going to put his bag.

Jim bit down a laugh when Spock when on his tiptoes to try to reach the shelf. "Do you want me to do it?"

Spock shook his head, his pride preventing him from asking for help. "I am capable to putting my bag on my self." The edge of the bag got onto the edge of the shelf, much to Spock's enjoyment, though when he tried to push it on, the entire bag came down. A tiny frown snuck across Spock's face when the bag fell down into his arms.

"Here," Jim laughed, standing up and walking over to help Spock. None too gently, Jim took the bag from Spock's hands and put it up onto the shelf. "There. If you need to get it, get a step-stool or something," Jim said, trying not to laugh. He didn't look at Spock, knowing that if he did, he would start laughing his head off.

That was why he missed the mini huff Spock did and the raven nearly crossing his arms in annoyance. "Very well then," he finally conceded. "Do you know anyone else at the school?"

Jim half-grinned. "Yeah. I know one of the docs, Leonard McCoy. He's a friend of mine. I helped him through a rough patch recently." He shook his head. "D'you know anyone?"

Spock nodded. "She prefers to be called Uhura."

"WHAT?" Jim yelled, nearly making Spock jump. "YOU KNOW HER TOO?"

The raven nodded cautiously. "Miss Uhura is a good classmate of mine." Jim stared at Spock. "Are you a classmate of hers as well?"

"I've known Uhura since junior high." The blonde crossed his arms. "And yet you seem to know more about her than I do, though I'm pretty sure I've known her longer." He narrowed his eyes at Spock. "How did you do that? I've been trying to learn her first name since I met her."

Spock opened his mouth to speak after a long moment's thought. "Are you the one to which she often refers as extremely flirtatious and incredibly rude and got into a fight with a classmate of her's on the first day you met?" Jim took a minute to go through what his roommate had said before nodding. "Ah. I understand why she has refused to tell you her first name."

Jim frowned before walking out of their room. "I'm going to see Bones, if anyone comes asking for me," he said over his shoulder.

"I presume 'Bones' is Doctor McCoy then," Spock projected after him before returning to his next task: putting all of his belongings into neat areas on his side of the room. He looked around before sighing. This was going to take a bit of creativity.


	2. Rolling Chairs And Pacing

Leonard McCoy was putting things back into their place in his work area when he heard a knock on his door before an enthusiastic "Hi Bones!" sounded through his door. "I'd been hoping to have longer before he showed up," he grumbled, standing nonetheless to get the door. "Settled in already, kid?" He crossed his arms, looking at Jim, who grinned at Bones.

"Yeah. I met my roommate too." Jim made a beeline for Bones's rolling office chair, plopping down and putting his feet up on the doctor's desk. "You'll never guess who else is here." Bones waited for his friend to say what he came to say, his arms still crossed. "Uhura!"

He rolled his eyes. "Jim, you've gotta stop annoying her about that. She's not gonna tell you."

Jim grinned evilly. "That doesn't mean my new roommate won't tell me." Bones didn't even wait for the blonde to finish talking before slapping his hand onto his face.

Spock stood back from where he had placed his last item brought with him to college, checking and double checking that everything was in a satisfying place. A knock on the door caught his attention. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Spock."

Nodding to himself, the raven turned and walked to the door, opening it to reveal Nyota Uhura, a bright smile on her face. "Good morning, Nyota."

The African American girl plopped herself down onto Spock's bed. "So, who's your roommate?"

Spock continued double checking his placement of things. "Jim Kirk."

Nyota's reaction was very similar to Jim's. "WHAT?!" She jumped off the bed and began pacing. "That stupid, idiotic, rude - ARGH!" She spun on her heel to face him. "Please tell me you didn't request him."

"I had not met him until I entered this room thirty point seven nine four minutes ago."

"So that's a no, right?" Spock nodded but Nyota continued frowning. "Okay, rule one: no telling Jim anything about, especially my first name. He's been bugging me about it since we met." She crossed her arms, and then uncrossed them, relaxing. "Are you done putting your stuff away?"

"I am, however -"

"Good. We're going for a late breakfast." Nyota began pulling Spock by the arm out of the room, not allowing the raven to finish his statement. "I need to stab something." A few moments later, "Did I tell you who my roommate is? Her name's Christine. I'll have to introduce the two of you sometime..."

**A/N: I know, it's ridiculously short. Sorry. I'll try to make up for it next chapter. Happy fourth to those in the States! And thank you to everyone who reviewed, added to their favorites, or followed this story! **


	3. Heard A Little Bit About You

Bones finally got Jim out of his office around noon. After about five minutes of sitting in his chair, enjoying the silence, he heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?" He opened an eye to glare at the door, as if it was personally responsible for disrupting his quiet time.

"It's me, Doctor McCoy." Christine Chapel cautiously opened the door. "I've come to ask you for help."

"And me, Bones!" Nyota popped her head in above Christine's, and both of them peeked around the door to look at Bones. "Christine said she didn't want to go alone, so I figured, 'What the hell? It'll give me a chance to visit the good doctor.'." Bones waved them in before standing and pulling out two rolling chairs from the corner of the room. "So," the African American girl began, "have you heard from Kirk yet?"

Christine looked from Nyota to Bones, confused. "Yeah. I just got him outta here a few minutes ago." The doctor turned to the blonde. "So, what did you need help with, Miss Chapel?"

"Oh!" She looked down at her hands for a moment. "I was actually wondering if you could tell me about any of the teachers I'll be having this year."

Bones nodded. "Alright. Who do you have?"

About an hour later, Nyota and Christine left Bones's office, after having discussed various teachers, Jim, and Spock. "Sorry we made you sit through our complaining about Jim," Nyota apologised as they walked back across campus towards their dorm room.

Christine shrugged. "It's alright. I don't know that many people here so it's kind of interesting. Plus, if I meet them, I'll at least have some idea of who they are." The African American girl laughed and nodded.

"It's just that he's so -"

"Attractive? Hot? Devious?" Nyota spun on her heel, Christine a bit more behind, and they both turned to face Jim Kirk grinning at them. "It's okay; you can say what you're really thinking, Uhura."

The blonde girl turned to Nyota. "Uhura? But that's your last name. Doesn't he know your first name, since you've known each other for so long?"

"Nope," Jim answered before Nyota could. "I met her in high school -"

"- after he got beat up by one of my classmates -"

"- and five years later, she still hasn't told me her first name." He held a hand out to Christine. "Jim Kirk. Who might you be?" The blonde felt a shy smile cross her face.

"Christine Chapel," she replied, shaking the offered hand. "I've heard a little bit about you from Uhura and Doctor McCoy."

Jim's face lit up when Christine mentioned the doctor. "You've met Bones?" Christine nodded. "Yeah, these two would have a lot to say about me," he added after a long moment. The blondes looked at Nyota, who rolled her eyes.

**A/N: Yeah, I know. I'm not overly proud of this chapter, and it seems like more of a transition chapter to me. And a really short one at that. I'm sorry! I'll work harder on next chapter! It really doesn't help that I have later pieces written out yet not the early stuff...**


	4. Eight In The Morning

It turned out that Jim and Spock actually had a few classes together (it was more shocking to Nyota than to either of them). Strangely enough, they were all computer and science classes. What was even stranger was that Nyota also had the computer class with the two of them. On the first day of the class, Nyota had been first to the class, taken a seat in the front, and set up her materials in a very neat and orderly fashion (y'know, just to show off). Second to arrive was Spock, looking slightly less neat than usual and carrying a cup of steaming coffee. He sat next to Nyota, offering her the other cup of coffee that she hadn't seen him carrying. "Good morning, Spock," she offered, accepting the coffee gratefully. She didn't get a coherent response in return.

Third to arrive had been Pavel Andreievich Chekov. "Uhura!" The still-seventeen-not-quite-eighteen-year-old greeted Nyota by running at her and nearly knocking her, her chair, and her coffee over. "I did not know you were taking zis class!"

"I wasn't quite planning on it," Nyota replied, trying to pull herself out of Pavel's bear hug. "What're you doing here? I thought you had a science major."

Pavel shrugged. "No. I zought about et and decided on an engineering major. Et es strange, zough, zince et requires zis class." He colored slightly. "Hikaru is also taking this class," the blonde confided in a whisper.

Nyota nodded, having successfully extracted herself from Pavel's arms. "I'm happy for you, Pavel. I am."

Fourth to arrive was none other than Hikaru Sulu himself. "Hey, Uhura." He grinned at Nyota, which she returned before Hikaru took a seat beside Pavel. Almost immediately, they fell into a whispered conversation about whatever they normally talked about.

Slowly but surely, the majority of the class filtered into the room. One of the last people to arrive, and by far the most tired, was none other than James T. Kirk. He arrived just before the professor did, silently counting himself lucky that he'd made it in on time. The professor picked up a clipboard from his desk to which the student list was attached. In a rather dull monotonous voice, he read out the names, each student calling out their presence with varying degrees of energy. After about ten minutes of that, the professor uncapped a dry-erase marker and began writing the word 'computer' on the whiteboard behind him. "Now, can anyone tell me the purpose of this class?"

Spock and Nyota's hands flew up into the air. Nyota got chosen. "The purpose of this class is to teach today's generation about the use and purpose of computers and how to properly take advantage of computers." The professor nodded.

A muffled exclamation came from the opposite side of the room. "I'm sorry?" The professor's old eyes scanned the room for the student who had said something.

"I said, 'Ten points to Gryffindor!'," Jim repeated, picking his head up off of his desk, not even opening his eyes. Half the class erupted in giggles, being eight am and no one really being fully awake yet.

Nyota turned to look at Spock, having to bit the inside of her cheek from giggling herself, only to find her friend glaring daggers at Jim, probably to defend her response. "Would you have a different answer?"

Jim looked up at Spock, his expression still tired but his eyes like the calm before the storm. "I would just say to teach people how to use computers and skip out on all of the fancy wording that Uhura used." Spock raised an eyebrow. "Did I say something wrong?"

"It was disrespectful to Miss Uhura to make such an exclamation about her answer, which was correct."

Nyota saw what was going on a little too late. "Spock, it's fine. It was a joke. I'm fine with it."

"Apologize to her."

Jim blinked multiple times before responding. "What?"

Spock continued to look at Jim coolly as he repeated, "Apologize to Miss Uhura."

"Spock, he was joking. He didn't mean it to be rude."

"Apologize to her."

"No."

Nyota slapped her hand to her face, making her hand, her face, and her ears hurt.

********

Five minutes later, Spock and Jim were being escorted out of the classroom by security officers, Spock with minor bruises, and Jim with a variety of bruises and a cut lip. Oh, this was definitely going to be a long school year, the African American girl mused.

**A/N: So?**


	5. Gay or European? or Is Jim Changing?

**A/N: Sorry about the title. I couldn't resist. **

It didn't take long for a routine to be set: Jim and Spock would snap at each other in class, Nyota would help Spock deal with living with an idiot (who wasn't actually an idiot; he just chose not to be attentive in class), and life went on.

* * *

"So, we've gotten almost a quarter of the way through the year," Nyota said nonchalantly, her eyes flicking up to watch Spock's reaction before going back to her book. Her friend didn't show any sign of having heard her and continued his work. "What do you think of him?"

Spock scoffed. "He is, in alphabetical order, an arrogant, belligerent, cantankerous, careless, compulsive, devious, egotistical, flirtatious, hot, impolite, pompous, rule-breaking, scandalous, self-centered, stubborn, vulgar - What?" Nyota had been nodding along with the adjectives Spock used to describe Jim until she suddenly looked up at him, a glowing look on her face and a mischievous gleam in her eye.

Nyota sat back in her chair. "Tell me - what was the ninth adjective?"

"Impolite."

"The one before that."

"Flirtatious."

Nyota shook her head. "No, you called him hot."

Spock stiffened in his seat before returning his gaze to his textbook. "I do not recall performing such an action."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, _please_, Spock. Just admit it - you called Jim Kirk hot." Spock didn't respond so Nyota rolled her eyes again. "Go through that list again and then tell me that you didn't call him hot." She watched, her arms crossed, as Spock mentally went through the list and his cheeks gradually grew redder. "I told you!" she squealed, pointing at him before curling back into herself.

"I may have described him with a more...generous adjective than the others but that does not imply that my opinion is that -" here Nyota gave Spock a look, a smile playing on her lips "- he is an attractive young man. The other traits that he has displayed have overshadowed that particular advantage he may have over the female, homosexual and bisexual male population he has encountered so far."

"Speaking of which," Nyota segwayed, scooting her chair a bit closer to Spock's. "When are you going to admit it?"

Spock raised an eyebrow at her. "To what are you referring, Nyota?"

Nyota rolled her eyes for a third time. "Your sexuality, Spock. I haven't seen you kiss a girl before," she added. Spock's face went red again and Nyota stared at him, her mouth hanging open for a few moment before turning into a smile. "You haven't kissed anyone before, have you?"

When Nyota squealed again, Spock shushed her. "It is not something I spent my youth doing." He huffed and went back to his homework.

She sidled up next to him. "Ever?" Spock's cheeks going redder was the only confirmation she needed. "Oh Spock, it's okay." Nyota smiled. "I promise I won't tell a soul."

Unfortunately for Spock, Jim happened to be behind the bookshelf closest to them, having overheard the conversation from where Nyota began questioning Spock about his sexuality. A grin formed on his face as he catalogued this new information about his roommate.

Spock resisted the urge to run his hands over his face in an effort to hide his exhaustion from being awake for nearly twenty-four hours straight. Mentally, he cursed the teacher who had thought it was a good idea to assign a paper and have it be due the next day. Even he had difficulty achieving that goal. All he wanted to do was curl up on his bed and go to sleep. He opened his door, expecting it to be empty.

He discovered that Fate was a cruel bitch because what he got was this.

Jim was currently very - oh very - close to being naked with a girl - probably from one of his classes - as the two of them made-out - very passionately, Spock's subconscious added - on Jim's bed. Spock cleared his throat, attempting to ignore the favored pastimes of his roommate. Both Jim and the girl looked up at him. The girl just looked embarrassed while Jim looked at Spock...apologetically? "If you two would wait to continue until I am out of the room, I believe I will be spending the remainder of my time in Uhura's room. However, I will need a few of my belongings." He calmly stepped into the room and walked over to his desk, picking up the needed items before stopping by his dresser and grabbing a change of clothes as well as pajamas, stuffing them into a bag along with a few books. "Enjoy your evening." With that, the raven left.

Nyota was reading a book on her bed when she heard a knock on her door. "Hang on a sec," she called, finishing her paragraph and marking her page before closing the book and standing up. "Spock!" The young woman greeted her friend with a surprised tone. "What're you doing here?"

"Would I be imposing if I requested to remain here for the evening and possibly tonight?" Nyota shook her head, allowing Spock into her room. She watched him walk across the room, throwing his bag rather harshly onto her roommate's bed before flopping down to join it.

The African American girl sat down on her own bed, facing her friend. "Alright, what did Jim do this time?"

"Nothing that is out of the ordinary for his normal behaviour." Spock didn't want to talk about it, fine, Nyota could deal with that. She'd just have to get her answer from the other party.

It was midnight and Spock was fast asleep on her roommate's bed when Nyota got up to go talk to Jim. She rapped on his door several times. When the door was opened, she didn't wait for Jim to say something before striding into the room. "Okay," Nyota began when the door was closed. "What did you do?"

Bleary-eyed, Jim looked at Nyota. "What're you talking about, Uhura?" Nyota crossed her arms, giving Jim a glare that could only be given at midnight when said woman had not yet received a wink of sleep. "Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Watching Jim sit down in his chair, Nyota began. "Well, let's list the things that are wrong here. One, I'm in your room at midnight. Two, Spock isn't in here. Three, Spock isn't in here because he's sleeping on my roommate's bed. Four, Spock isn't in here because he's sleeping on my roommate's bed because of something you did. Five, why don't you have any pants on?" She uncrossed her arms to place her hands on her hips.

Jim looked down to see that yes, he wasn't wearing any pants. "I might've forgotten to put them back on."

"After?"

"After nearly having sex with one of the girls from my gym class." Here Nyota rolled her eyes. "Hey, it wasn't my fault this time! Okay, so it was a little my fault, but the majority of it was her's! I was trying to stay away, she took it as me playing hard to get."

"You?"

"What?"

Nyota shook her head. "Why were you, _you_ of all people, trying to stay away from an attractive woman?" Her jaw dropped and she raised her hand to point at Jim. "You're trying to change for him!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Jim gaped like a fish for a few moments before finding his voice again. "I have no idea who you're talking about," he said, firmly ignoring the blush making its way across his face.

"Oh, don't try that on me, James T. Kirk." The blonde grimaced, knowing it was serious when someone called him by his full name. "Spock," Nyota stated. "You're trying to change for Spock."

"I am not!"

The African American girl squealed quietly. "Oh, that is so sweet!" Jim frowned at her, watching her disapprovingly as she flailed her arms around. "Sorry," Nyota said, regaining her composure. "I had to fangirl there."

Jim stared at Nyota. "Fangirl? Seriously?" She shrugged. "No, I am not doing anything for Spock. I just feel like I'm growing up or something." Nyota grinned.

"Right," she said disbelievingly, holding the i. "So, having it be nearly halfway through the school year and becoming awesome friends in the first half has nothing to do with it?" Jim frowned, the blush deepening. Nyota grinned.

"Uhura, what're you trying to get at?"

Nyota rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to say that Spock's helping you change. You've grown up since the two of you became friends." She stood. "Well, I got what I came for. See ya tomorrow, Kirk." With that, the African American girl left. Jim frowned and laid back on his bed, not bothering to turn off the lights, and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what Nyota had said.

**A/N: So, whaddya think? I know - it's probably crap, BUT then again it was one of the first things I wrote for this story (seriously, this story was written basically all out of order and I'm making it up as I go along). SO, if anyone has any reviews or suggestions for what they would like to see for next chapter or any time at all (so long as it eventually ends in Jim and Spock getting together) I'll gladly listen and take it into consideration. MUCHAS GRACIAS Y'ALL.**

**Just kidding. Let's not have that part in there.**

**P.S. My birthday's actually tomorrow so I'm considering doing a mass update as a birthday present from me to all of you.**

**P.P.S. MY BIRTHDAY IS HARRY POTTER'S. I'm done now.**

**P.P.P.S. Sorry, last one. I just realized I never set an age for this. I was assuming the majority of them would be somewhere along the 18-19 age line except for Hikaru, who's probably closer to 19-20 and Bones is like, late 20's - early 30's or something. **


	6. Bad Morning After

The sound of the door opening startled Jim awake. Unfortunately, that ended in him rolling quite ungracefully off the bed. "Good morning," Spock said, walking into the room and ignoring the fact that his roommate was currently on the ground.

"Spock." In his half-awake state, Jim _really_ hoped that he didn't sound as surprised as he felt. "I thought you were mad at me." The blonde managed to get off the ground without falling back over (somehow). He cleared his throat when Spock didn't reply. "Uh, Uhura came over and told me that you were staying with her. I just wanted to say..." he trailed off lamely. "I'm sorry. I should've been more careful." Jim frowned and crossed his arms. "Are you going to say _anything_?"

Spock continued to unpack the bag he'd brought with him to Nyota's room the night before. "I did not believe my saying anything would impact your reaction to my emotions." The blonde nodded and rolled his eyes. "I do find you at fault for being in such a compromising state as you were when I entered the room last night, however."

Jim sighed, exasperated. "It was _her_ fault! Not mine! She basically attacked me in what you would call an outburst of hormones!" Pouting like he was five, Jim crossed his arms again before plopping down onto his bed. "_I_ was being good and trying to stop her."

"Obviously you were not trying hard enough."

"Will you just - oh, forget it," Jim grumbled, lying down on the bed and turning so he faced the wall.

"I believe if you told me to 'shut up', it would be contradicting your earlier question where -"

"Spock! I don't care right now! I'm going back to sleep," Jim added for good measure, pulling his sheets over his head.

Because of Jim's irate nature, he missed the look of hurt that had slowly spread across his roommate's face.

"I'm not lying, Bones!" The doctor snorted, obviously not believing what Nyota was telling him. "Jim was purposely trying to do something different so that he wouldn't hurt Spock!"

Bones rolled his eyes. "Why would Jim do a thing like that?"

Here a grin slowly spread across Nyota's face. "I think he likes him."

"As if! Jim's here complaining about that hobgoblin more often than not. Where on Earth did this idea pop up from?"

"The fact that Spock spent the night in my room last night because he was hurt that Jim nearly had sex with a girl from his gym class who, he claims, forced the encounter because she took his avoidance of her as him playing hard to get."

Bones raised an eyebrow in a Spock-like manner, clearly still not believing what he was hearing. "Where the hell did you hear that?"

Now Nyota crossed her arms, aware that she had the doctor's attention. "From Jim at midnight when I went over to ask him about it." Groaning, Bones brought a hand to his face.

**A/N: Aaaaannndddd, I'm expecting the villagers with torches and pitchforks at any moment now. So please, if you have ANYTHING to help me, I need something to bridge this and the obvious kiss scene that I've already written (actually, that was the first thing I wrote...oh well). As usual though, reviews and suggestions welcome!**

**P.S. We've now gone back to the length of chapter three. Great. **


	7. The Carpet Isn't Visible

Thus began Nyota's mission to get Jim and Spock together (no matter how much she _strongly_ disliked Jim) or at least friends. For the most part, it went very well: Spock and Jim got the point where they were at least friend-_ly_ with each other but not quite at the point of being called friends, much to Nyota's disappointment. But, nonetheless, it was progress.

A few weeks after The Incident (question: why is it that whenever something happens, it's always referred to as The Incident?), anyway, their dorm room had become a mess. The majority of it was Jim's, with only like one percent of it being Spock's (okay, so two point five percent). But Spock didn't lay claim to his mess and instead put it upon Jim to clean their room while he read his book on his bed quietly. The conversation went something like this.

"The room is extremely unorganized."

"I can see that, Spock." *turns back to magazine in hand*

"Ninety-seven point five percent of the belongings are yours, Jim."

"Your point is?"

"The floor is not visible, _Jim_."

"So? As long as we can get in and out without injuring ourselves, we're fine."

"_Jim_."

"What?"

"I request that you clean up your belongings so that our floor will be visible."

"Why? It'll just get dirty again. This way, we're preserving the carpet."

"..."

"Seriously? I can't even clean up my own room properly, Spock. Wait a minute, didn't you say that only ninety-seven point five percent of this stuff was mine?"

"Correct."

"Doesn't that mean that the other two point five percent is yours?"

"It is a possibility."

"Oh, come on! You're not even gonna clean up your stuff?"

"I have an assignment due tomorrow that requires my reading of this book."

"...Did you just lie?"

"..."  
"Oh my God, you did, didn't you? Just to get out of cleaning. Y'know what, fine. I'll clean the room."

And thus Jim was left to toss all of his stuff onto his bed (the majority of it was dirty clothes and half of them were turning alarming colors of brown and green - those went into the trash) while Spock read his not-assigned book.

"Hey, guys - whoa!" Nyota opened their door (they were some of the few on campus who held an open-door policy) "What happened in here?"

Jim looked around from his position on the floor where he was perfectly capable of throwing things onto either his or Spock's bed. "Life." And went back to cleaning.

Spock on the other hand decided to give Nyota an actual answer. "I requested that Jim clean his belongings from the floor as the carpet was no longer visible." He closed his book, marking his place, so to give Nyota his full attention.

"And he actually agreed to do it?" Spock nodded, making Nyota go "huh." "I never thought I'd see the day where Jim took orders without question."

Jim scoffed. "Please. I questioned plenty. Mister Pointy-Eyebrows over there only got out because he lied and said he had to read that book." The blonde picked up a shirt, sniffed it, and tossed it into the trash. "By the way, does someone wanna go shopping for new clothes after I'm done with this? 'Cause, half of my stuff just went into the trash."

Nyota grinned. "Actually, that's close to why I stopped by. Christine and I are going out for lunch and she suggested we invite you two."

Spock and Jim took a moment to actually look at each other as if communicating telepathically. "Sure."

"I am not opposed to the idea."

The African American girl stared at the two of them for a long moment. "Sorry, it's just weird to see the two of you doing that. Okay, so, if all four of us are going," Nyota continued, trying to pull herself back to the point. "We're gonna have to think of a place to go and how we're gonna pay."

"If necessary, I have enough money to pay for the meal."

Nyota shook her head. "No way, Spock. I'm certainly not going to let you pay for it by yourself, and I'm pretty sure Christine won't let you either. I was actually thinking along the lines of splitting it four ways."

Jim shrugged, standing and brushing himself off. "Sure. I mean, it's not like we're going to a really expensive place." Both Nyota and Spock stared at him. "I wasn't thinking of one. What were you two thinking of?"

"I'll go tell Christine," Nyota said, shaking her head. "Jeez, Jim, what were you thinking of?" She left the room, leaving Jim gaping after her and Spock preparing himself to go out.

**A/N: I'm impressed. A decent sized chapter in only 35 minutes. Anywho, whaddya think? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it indifferent? All I can say is, I have no idea where I thought this was going when I thought of Jim vacuuming the room. As always, reviews and suggestions welcome!**


	8. Out To Lunch With A Side Of Crazy

Lunch itself wasn't bad. It was trying to figure out where to go for lunch that had the four of them arguing.

"Denny's."

"IHOP."

"I do not have a personal preference."

"Good answer, Spock. Cracker Barrel."

"It appears we disagree as to the location of our midday meal."

Eventually it was decided that Denny's and Cracker Barrel cancelled each other out, so it was left between Denny's and IHOP.

"I want pancakes!"

"Jim, stop acting like you're five."

"I am not! Spock, tell Uhura that I'm not five!"

"You are acting immaturely, Jim."

"Ugh! Christine, wanna help me out?"

"Sorry Jim, they've got a point."

"Oh great. I still say IHOP."

"Jim, not all of us are in the mood for pancakes. Besides, you can probably get pancakes at Denny's! It's not a big deal. Even Spock doesn't have an opinion of where we should go."

"Actually, I believe I have found a solution."

"Which is?"

"Bob Evans."

Nyota, Christine, and Jim all looked at Spock before looking back at each other and letting out an "Oh". "Nice choice."

"So, everyone agrees?"

"Sure, I'm for it. 'Sides, now that I think about it, they have steak there."

"You're kidding me, Jim! We just spent all of that time arguing because you wanted pancakes!"

"But now I want steak."

So, they all went to Bob Evans. It was nice since it was oddly quiet that day, especially for lunchtime on a Sunday. The outing itself only took about an hour, thanks to good service. Small talk wasn't really any of their good areas, so the majority of it had been spent in silence. "So," Christine began, breaking one of the rounds of silence. "What were you two doing when Uhura asked you about lunch?"

"Cleaning."

"Reading a book."

Christine and Uhura glanced at each other and then back to Jim and Spock. "Why was Jim cleaning?"

Jim glared at her for a moment before stabbing his steak rather violently, mumbling something incoherent. "I requested that he remove his possessions from the floor of our room." Spock ignored his roommate for the most part when a glare was pointed in his direction.

"JIM!" A squeal sounded from across the restaurant and suddenly said blonde was attacked by an overly energetic young woman. "I WAS SO _NOT_ EXPECTING TO SEE YOU HERE!"

Nyota and Christine froze, the former with her fork halfway from her mouth. Spock calmly finished chewing before standing. "If you would excuse me, I find myself suddenly overcome with the urge to vomit," he said quietly to Nyota.

His roommate on the other hand was nearly begging him to stay with his eyes. Spock ignored him, unfortunately. Jim turned to Nyota, silently asking her to tell Spock this was _not_ his idea. "Hey Kelly," he smoothly greeted, attempting to pull the girl off of him. "What're you doing here?"

The African American woman excused herself, leaving Christine to help Jim get out of his current situation. "Well," Kelly began, completely ignoring that both Spock and Nyota had now left, taking Spock's spot beside Jim without a moment's hesitation. "I got hungry and thought to myself 'Self, where would you like to eat?' And do you know what Self answered? Bob Evans! I completely agreed, so I came over and as soon as I walked in, who should I see? But you, Jim!" She shrugged, a grin on her face. "And then I just _had_ to say something, so I got your attention and - ."

"Yeah, Kelly, I know what happened from there." Desperate for something to say (other than 'Kelly, get the hell out right now'), Jim looked at Christine, who provided the perfect distraction. "Uh, Kelly, have you met Christine?"

The grin disappeared from Kelly's face the moment Jim said Christine's name. "I don't believe I have," she said coldly.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Christine held a hand out to Kelly. "Hi. I'm Uhura's roommate. Spock and Jim are friends of mine."

Kelly looked like she'd just eaten a lemon, judging from her current expression. "Hm." She quickly turned back to Jim. "So what're you doing here?"

Jim gaped for a moment. "Uh, we were just having lunch. Y'know what, actually, we were just leaving. The waitress hasn't come by yet and we need to ask her for those boxes." He started looking around for their waitress.

Luckily for him, Christine came to his rescue. "Hey, Jim, why don't you go look for her and ask her for those boxes? Spock and Uhura'll probably need one each so ask her for four. I'll keep _Kelly_ company."

Mouthing 'thank you', Jim nodded. "Alright. I'll be right back." He got up and nearly ran.

Once his back was to them, Kelly's face dropped. "So, what d'you want?" She sat back in the chair, her face etched in a permanent disapproving look, like Christine was below her.

Fortunately, the remaining blonde wasn't going to fall to the other's level. "You to leave Jim alone. He's a good guy and I don't want his roommate ignoring him because some slut like you is determined to leave your mark on Jim." Once that was out, Kelly's jaw dropped. "I don't even want to see you so much as look at him. He deserves better then a stupid skank like you." Christine smiled sweetly. "Now, why don't you leave and choose another place to go eat?"

Kelly stood, her jaw hanging open as she stared at Christine. "That stupid ambassador's son put you up to this, didn't he? Ugh, I hate him!" She stomped her way out of the restaurant, trying to slam to door behind her with no success.

Jim walked back over, staring at where Kelly had just left. "What on earth did you say to her?"

Christine shrugged. "Nothing she didn't deserve to hear." She stood. "I'm gonna go find N-Uhura and Spock." Jim watched the other blonde as she walked away, a confused look on his face.

**A/N: So? What d'you think? (By the way, I actually have nothing planned for the next chapter, so if anyone wants to make a suggestion...go ahead!)**


	9. Figuring It Out As We Go Along

Ten minutes after Kelly had left, Christine, Nyota, and Spock all returned to the table, where Jim was sitting like a lost child. Nyota quickly squashed that metaphor in her head, remembering what she and Spock had agreed to. "Good, Jim got boxes." She, Christine, and Spock began putting their food into containers.

Jim cleared his throat awkwardly. "Guys, I'm sorry. I didn't know she was gonna be here. Actually I wasn't expecting her to be anywhere besides class...Anyway, I'm sorry about that."

Nyota gave him a pointed look that clearly read 'I'm-not-the-one-you-need-to-apologize-to-and-neit her-is-Christine'. "I was planning on going back to doing my homework at the dorm. Christine, you coming?" Said blonde looked slightly sheepish at being addressed during such a tense moment. "It's okay. I'll meet you back there."

Sighing, Christine finished packing up her leftovers. "See ya, guys."

Too soon for Jim's liking, the trio was walking on their way back to college. Nyota opened their door and walked in, grabbing a chair and pulling it in between the two beds. Jim and Spock looked at each other before following her into the room. "Alright, I'm here to mediate." She sat down on the chair after closing the door behind them. "Sit." Not willing to contradict her, Jim sat on his bed the same moment Spock sat on his. "Okay. Talk."

Jim rolled his eyes. "Uhura, we're guys. We don't just talk about our feelings, especially when there's a woman present."

Nyota rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm just here to make sure that you two actually do talk to each other." She looked from Jim to Spock.

"I am in agreement with Jim."

Both Jim and Nyota turned to Spock in surprise. "You do?" They asked in unison.

"I mean, not that I don't make a good point, but you rarely agree with me."

"He's right. I'm actually starting to get a little worried here."

"I am aware that both Jim and I share a certain uncomfortability in expressing our emotions, however, that is made more difficult by your presence, Miss Uhura." Spock spoke calmly, pointedly ignoring the open-mouthed stares he was receiving from both Jim and Nyota. After a moment of silence, he said, "I do not understand why both of you insist on staring at me."

Nyota took that opportunity to bring them back to the point. "Well, how often do you actually agree with Jim? With him present," she added when Spock opened his mouth to reply. The raven closed his mouth, slowly understanding where Nyota was going with this. "And Jim," the African American continued, turning to the blonde. "I believe you have something to explain to Spock here." She crossed her arms, giving him another look.

Jim looked at Nyota. "Seriously? Right now?"

She nodded. "I'm making sure you actually say it."

The blonde grimaced slightly before turning to his roommate. "Kelly isn't a friend. I don't even like her! I mean, yeah, she's pretty, but I wasn't the one who started all that," he managed, using vague hand motions when he said 'that'. "Besides, Uhura can probably attest to the fact that, in her opinion, I'm trying to be a better person."

Nyota stood and clapped her hands together in the brief silence that followed. "Okay. My job here is done so I'm gonna go meet Christine back at our dorm room." She began to walk out of their room. "Have fun, boys!"

**A/N: Possibly my shortest chapter yet...ANYWHO, my sincerest apologies for not posting anything for nearly two weeks. Summer kind of actually happened and today I went back to school, SO it's been weird. Reviews? Suggestions? Help? Oh, and I have no idea what Nyota's referring to, if anyone wants to know. Unless she's talking about the other thing I've already written. OH WELL. **


	10. So This Is What Love Is

**A/N: I figured I might as well as put it at the top of the chapter for this one. So, we've finally gotten to this part. It's only taken ten chapters. I'm not quite sure it came out the way I wanted it to, but I hope you all enjoy it. Reviews and suggestions welcome for where they should go from here. **

* * *

Neither of them spoke for a minute. "Do you know what Uhura meant by that?" Jim looked at his hands, playing with invisible dust on his comforter.

"I believe she was insinuating something of a romantic nature." Spock glanced down for a moment before moving to sit next to Jim on his bed. "Were you lying when you said you were attempting to be a 'better' person?"

Jim cleared his throat uncomfortably. "No, I wasn't." He shifted slightly to get a better look at Spock. "Why're you still here, Spock?"

"I do live in this room."

"You know I mean." The blonde rolled his eyes. "Y'know, for a guy who doesn't know what sarcasm is, you're really good at being a smart ass." He sighed. "So, what do we do now?"

"I believe Miss Uhura would like us to consider our conversation."

Jim fought the urge to flop back onto his bed. "Alright then. I'm gonna ask you a question." Spock nodded. "Do you trust me?"

"That is a question that I have already answered, Jim."

The blonde nodded. "Good." And he pulled them together for a kiss.

* * *

Their lips met and Jim would swear from then on that he'd never kissed a woman - or man for that matter - with lips as soft as Spock's. He could feel himself melting as his eyes shut and he knew he shouldn't be melting. Gently, he pulled back, slightly hesitant to open his eyes and see what would await him. Instead of having to worry about that, he felt a hand grab his shirt and pull him into another kiss.

Spock felt his heart racing. _This isn't right. He's a rule-breaking, devious, hot, scandalous, arrogant, egotistical, belligerent, cantankerous, careless, compulsive, flirtatious, impolite, pompous, self-centered, vulgar, stubborn - wait, what was that third one?_ He willed his heart to slow and his breathing to return to normal when they broke apart again. "I thought you would've punched me," Jim said breathlessly.

"I was expecting to punch you," Spock replied just as breathlessly. "I have no explanation as to why that just occurred."

Jim felt a small smile cross his face. "I vote we try it again then." He barely waited for an agreement from Spock before he pulled their lips together again. "So," he began when they'd pulled apart. "Do you still not have any reasoning for that?" The blonde rested his forehead on Spock's gently.

The raven felt his head spinning. "I..." He took a step away from Jim. "I need to take a walk." Spock nearly ran out of their room. Jim stared at the spot where his roommate had just been before smacking his hand against his head and flopping down onto his bed.

Five minutes later there was a knock on the door. "It's open," Jim yelled from his spot on his bed.

"I saw, but I thought it would be polite if I knocked." The blonde opened his eyes to see Nyota standing next to his bed. "Okay, what happened?"

Jim rolled his eyes. "What d'you mean, what happened? Didn't Spock go immediately to you?"

Nyota sighed. "No. He was supposed to meet me for lunch a little while ago. I got worried when he didn't show up." She sat down on the edge of the bed, not looking at Jim. "Look, I know something happened between the two of you. I know how you are, Jim. You're a good guy - you just haven't figured that out yet. I also know Spock." At this point she turned her head to look at him. "He admires you, although he'll never admit it. So, tell me: what happened?"

"Well..." Nyota narrowed her eyes at Jim. "We may have kissed." Here the blonde watched Nyota avoid squealing squirming happily in her spot. "Why're you so...giddy about that?" The word "giddy" was accompanied by a hand motion gesturing to Nyota's general person.

The African American girl rolled her eyes. "Because I've been trying to get you two together for weeks!" Jim's jaw dropped. Nyota actually thought his jaw couldn't possibly go down as far as it did. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

"So that's what you've been doing?" Nyota crossed her arms. "I mean, it doesn't _seem_ like that's what you've been doing all this time." Jim sobered a little. "Sorry. Though, I actually didn't know that was what you were doing. Spock might've figured it out."

Nyota grinned. "He didn't. That's the only reason I've been getting away with it. Leonard was a little reluctant to help, though."

Jim's eyes nearly jumped out of his head. "Bones? You got Bones to help you?"

She shrugged. "Kind of. He only did it because he knew Spock'd help keep you out of trouble. Otherwise he wouldn't do anything to help him." Jim snorted, having brief flashbacks of all the times Bones had insulted Spock.

"So, he only helped to help me?"

Nyota shrugged. "That and to get me to stop bugging him about it. Every opportunity I got, I'd be nagging him about how you two acted around each other and how you'd grown up since you met Spock." Jim rolled his eyes at that. "It's true!"

The blonde shrugged. "Fine, maybe it's true. I can't believe you got Bones to help you," he added after a few moments of silent skepticism. "And you playing matchmaker?"

"I've done it before, I'll do it again," she said defensively. "Hikaru and Pavel are quite happy."

"Wait a minute," Jim said, looking at her again. "That was you? God, everyone in school knew that those two liked each other, except for them! I was about to start tearing my hair out if they didn't get together by the time Pavel graduated."

* * *

Spock sat underneath the tree in the center of the campus, dozens of raindrops coming off of its leaves. Jim sat down beside him, his hair and top half of his shirt soaking. "It's raining, Spock," the blonde stated, not looking at his roommate. "And you're out here, in the middle of it."

"I am under a tree."

"Oh, come on. We both know that's not enough cover to protect you." Now Jim looked at Spock. "What're you doing out here?"

The raven took a deep breath. "I have found that listening to the precipitation of water in its liquid form has helped me to concentrate when faced with a complicated situation."

Jim turned to face Spock. "So, what's your 'complicated situation'?"

"I am unable to discuss it with you."

"I'm your roommate, for God's sake. Who else are you going to talk about it with - Uhura?"

"I have found that Nyota is a very compassionate person and excellent listener on occasion."

Jim held up his hands in defeat. "Fine, don't talk about it with me. Just remember that I'm gonna be the one that has to deal with you if you don't talk to someone." He stood to leave when Spock grabbed him by the arm.

"The reason I am unable to discuss it with you, Jim," Spock began, treading cautiously on the subject, "is because you are the main subject of my situation." Jim looked at Spock for a moment before pulling him up using his arm. "What are you - ?"

"Do you really wanna have this conversation out here, in the middle of campus?" Spock closed his mouth and allowed Jim to pull him along by his arm. When they reached their dorm room, Jim opened the door, pulled Spock in behind him, and closed the door before locking it. "Okay, start talking."

Spock didn't hesitate. "We kissed. Three times." Jim nodded, getting an idea of where this was going. "I do not think that was a wise decision on either of our parts because of your reputation and my...uncertain sexuality."

Jim chuckled a little. "I should probably explain," he began. Spock sat on his bed, cross-legged. "It's...complicated. I mean, I've been around so many people and had, well, sexual encounters with a lot of them. But," he paused. "I've never really been...romantically attracted to them. With you..." His voice faded when he looked at Spock.

"You are implying that you are romantically attracted to me."

"Yes." Jim scrunched up his nose. "You say it very straightforwardly." Spock raised one of his eyebrows. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying that it's very...you." The blonde sat down across from Spock on his bed. "So, whadda we do now?"

Spock shifted uncomfortably. "We could..." Jim looked up from where he had put his head into his hands. "We could give in to temptation."

Now it was Jim's turn to raise his eyebrows. "You sure about that?'

"It was merely a suggestion." Spock began to uncross his legs to stand.

"I didn't turn it down." The raven turned to look at him and the blonde shrugged. "Do you want to?" When Spock didn't reply, Jim slowly moved closer to him. "You're gonna have to say something if I go too far, Spock."

"I shall endeavor to keep that in mind, Jim." Spock didn't wait for Jim to come to him and pulled him into an innocent kiss (though a kiss with Jim Kirk is never really innocent).

Needless to say, neither of them left their dorm room for the rest of the afternoon.


	11. The Party And The Pool

**A/N: I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! I've been dying to write this one for weeks but then school got in the way and school's really annoying and I'm babbling. Either way, I'm so sorry that this is two weeks after the last one was posted. But I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

So, Nyota decided to throw them a party.

That Jim could live with.

Though he's pretty sure he could do without the hundred or so people Nyota invited.

Bones is there, Christine's there, Pavel and Hikaru are there. A girl named Rand is there, laughing with everyone else but still keeping an eye on Jim for some reason. She even invited Montgomery Scott, the genius engineer - though he brought the alcohol, so Jim's cool with that. Gaila, a girl Jim had a week long relationship with with before Spock started growing on him is there.

When she sees him, Gaila throws her arms up into the air and squeals. Seconds later, Jim's trapped in a bear hug and really glad Gaila put her drink down before attacking him. She congratulates him, before saying, "It's about time the two of you got together! The pool on you two was getting ridiculous!"

Now Jim was confused. "What pool?"

Gaila laughed. "The pool on you and Spock becoming a couple, of course! It's been going on for months," she added.

"Really? Who was running it?"

The redhead looked around. "Uh, I think Pavel was. Though it might've been N-Uhura, I'm not sure."

Jim rolled his eyes. Even though Nyota go them together, she still wouldn't tell him her first name. "Thanks, Gaila." The blonde maneuvered his way over to Nyota. "There was a pool on getting us together?" The African American woman grimaced.

"Gaila told you, didn't she?" Jim nodded. "Yeah," Nyota admitted. "There was. Pavel was running it. He's been convinced that you two would get together since that day you two fought in class." She shook her head. "He also thinks that all of the campus security officers secretly own the exact same red shirt for target practice."

The blonde nodded again. "He has some weird theories but he's not a bad kid." He looked around. "I'm gonna go find Chekov and ask who won and how much they won." Nyota nodded Jim off, basically shooing him away. Bizarrely, he ran into Spock before he ran into Pavel. "Hey Spock," he greeted, trying to scan the crowd over Spock's shoulder (the raven had grown slightly taller than him in the months they'd been at school).

Spock nodded his greetings. "I have heard rumors, Jim."

Jim nodded distractedly. "About?"

"Professor Pike coming."

The blonde froze. "Wait, what?" He looked at Spock, who nodded again. Jim hung his head. "I already found out there was a pool on getting us together. Nothing could be worse than that, right?"

"Think again, Mister Kirk." The crowd in between the door to the room and the new couple parted quickly. Professor Pike stood in front of the door, his stance casual. Jim silently wondered how the professor had heard him before he realized that all conversations had stopped the minute he stepped foot into the room.

"Hi, Professor." The blonde began trying to shrink when Pike began walking towards them.

"Professor Pike," Spock greeted, inclining his head. Pike nodded in return. "Is there something wrong?"

Pike crossed his arms. "Well, I heard that Kirk here was about to find out who won the pool then stopped to talk to you." He raised an eyebrow when he was met with silence. "I want to know who won as well."

Jim was the first one to put two and two together. "Wait a minute. You were in on the pool?!"

The graying-brunette nodded. "Well, to be fair, the entire faculty was in on it as well, so basically the entire school was betting on you boys." He looked around, ignoring Jim's open-mouthed staring and Spock's raised eyebrow. "Now, where's that Russian kid? He should know who won by now."

At that moment, Pavel appeared out of the crowd. "Ah! Professor!" He paused to look at Jim and Spock. "Good, you're here too." Quickly, the curly haired blonde got up onto a table to make his announcement. "Now, I vill announce ze vinner of ze pool on Jim Kirk and Spock." (There was a split second after Pavel said Spock's name that everyone realized they had no idea what his last name was.) "Ze person vho came closest, besides ze vinner, vas..." Pavel looked around, clearly enjoying the attention he was receiving. "Nyota Uhura."

Nyota grinned. "Yes! I knew it!" She began doing a little victory dance before she realized something else. "Dammit," she groaned. "Now Jim knows my first name."

Everyone turned back to Pavel after this little spectacle, waiting to hear who the actual winner was. "Ah-hem." He cleared his throat. "Now, ze vinner of ze pool on Jim Kirk and Spock becoming a couple vas..." Again Pavel kept the suspense in the air for a few seconds longer than he needed to. "Kelly Anderson."

Jim was the first one to recognize her name. "Wait, that girl that tried to have sex with me?!"

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUN! Okay, not really but it's better than nothing, right? Reviews/critiques/suggestions welcome! And I'm gonna take this as an opportunity to thank everyone who has favorited (I don't care if it's not a word), followed, or reviewed this story! THANK YOU! **


End file.
